Costa del Sol

Saturday morning had us up and leaving Granada at a leisurely pace. We threaded our way down from the Alhambra summit through town and out onto the expressway south toward Motril. The drive was beautiful as snowy mountains gave way to deep gorges and finally great views of the Mediterranean Sea. We drove west along the coast past the sizeable city of Malaga (about 560,000), the point of our departure next Tuesday. Our destination was Calahonda, a resort area about 9 km east of Marbella and about 40 km west of Malaga.

After adding about 25 km extra because of the creative highway labeling system in Spain, we found the Hotel Don Carlos – the final destination of our trip. We checked in and were astounded by the view from our 11^th floor room. Our balcony faces the Med and Marbella. The hotel is beautiful with multiple gardens, swimming pools, and bars. This was Molly’s last day with us so we followed her plan, which was to lounge by the pool.

Sunday morning had us up particularly early as daylight savings time took effect overnight and we had to get Molly to the Malaga airport early for a flight to Marrakech. She’s meeting up with a few fellow ISA students for a trip to the Moroccan coast town of Essaouira for a week of sun & fun before classes start up again. We spent the rest of the day hanging out around the pool and beach. Molly’s plan seemed good to us!

Tomorrow is our last day before we head home. We’ve had tremendous luck with the weather so far and hope it holds one more day as we plan to head to Ronda, inland a bit from where we’re staying. We’ve read that the town is split by a deep gorge and was a favorite hangout spot of Ernest Hemingway. Looking forward to it!